The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-04-08
FARM NOTES.

L
We do not believe that it is mis-
take in any direction to advise farmers
to grow more fruit.
There are many ways of keeping
lgood, sound, ripe onions. The great
point is to keep them dry.
No oil penetrates wood SO well as
crude petroleum, none is so cheap, and
none SO effective as a preventative.
Cucumbers If planted under some
slight protection may make a gain of
two weeks over those planted later.
A teaspoonful of spirits of turpentine
in pint and half of cornmeal is con-
sidered one of the best remedies for
gapes when fed to young chicks.
1t has been shown by experience that
a pig digests a larger percentage of
grain, converting it into animal in
crease, than steer. cow or sheep.
The best soils for wool are also the
best for mutton, and it is necessary
that the land be dry, for damp soils are
fruitful causes of such diseases as liver
rot, fuke and foot rot.
The asparagus bed must be attended
to early. Fork in a plentiful supply of
fine, well-rotted manure, so as to allow
the rains to carry down the soluble
portions to the roots Of the plants.
1t seems to be admitted that one can
breed for eggs just as one can breed for
milk or butter. An egg from good
layer will be more likely to produce a
good layer than an egg from poor
layer.
A correspondent of the English
Farmers Gazette asserts that five
pounds of common white beans ground
fine and fed in half-pound doses with
bran twice daily will cure the worst
case of bloody milk.
1t is recommended that to prevent
cows or steers from jumping over
fences horse shoe be nailed to one of
the fore feet, which prevents the hoof
from spreading, and consequently rem
ders the animal unable to spring.
1t is within the reach of every farmer
to breed good horses. In fact, not
many can afford to breed poor ones.
The more poor horses man raises the
worse off he is, and there are few who
have the capital to run them any length
of time.
To train flock of sheep take
lamb to the house and teach it to come
at the call of a certain sound, and then
put it with the flock. As sheep follow
y leader, the whole flock may be called
by the obedience shown on the part of
the petted sheep.
All fowls that feather slowly are
usually hardy. For instance, the Brah-
mas. 1t is owing to the fact that the
drain on the system occasioned by
quick feathering does not weaken
them. Slow feathering while growing
is indicative of hardness.
The use of chloride of potassium is
recommended in Germany as means
Of increasing the growth of wool on
sheep, as German chemists have found
it beneficial for that purpose. 1t is ad-
minisapd in the proportion of one
part chloride to nine parts salt.
An excellent mixture of hay for all
classes of stock is one-third clover hay
with timothy and red-top, which is
much better than either one alone, as
the mixture is more complete in food
elements. 1t should be fed with an
allowance of ground grain also.
Turkeys are capable of rapid diges-
ton, and are always apparently hungry.
If allowed to forage they can be kept
at very small expense, but when
kept in confinement they consume
more than hens. When young and
growing they produce a carcass equiva-
lent to the food consumed.
Warm soapsuds is one of the best
insect washes, and when mixed with
tobacco water is as good a wash as
most things. Oil is for hardwooded
plants, but has to be used with great
caution, as it may clog the breathing
pores and thus smother the plant.
Some use it with water in Swinging.
Sir John b. Lawes says the German
Experiments upon cooked and uncook-
ed food for stock do not show any
clear evidence i'm favor of the former,
and the process of steaming and other
modes of converting dry food into sue
culent food have never become popular
among practical farmers in England.
The plan of farmer for securing
large crops is thus stated by him: ~
tell my men to harrow the ground until
they think it is narrowed twice as much
as it ought to be, and then tell them
| it is not narrowed half enough"
Thorough pulverization of the soil is
more important than any other crop.
A fruit-grower found that by making
a frame six inches in diameter and six
teen feet long, with half-inch holes
bored on the sides and top, and the
frame placed in the center of matted
row of Strawberries, and filled with
water from one end every day, that the
quality and size of the fruit were large
ly increased.
What is the value of cow that
makes 100 pounds of butter per year
in comparison with one that makes $50
pounds per year? 1t is as 10 to 100.
By a few years work i'm testing and
wedding out the poor cows, any dairy
man can haze dairy that will average
$50 pounds or more of butter to the
cow.
Save all the bones. They are val
liable for fertilizers in any form. Even
when placed whole in the soil the roots
of plants will be sure to find them. If
broken in small pieces they will afford
more food to plants, and if finely
ground or dissolved in moistened wood
ashes or sulphuric acid, are rendered
still more available for the use of
plants.
Save all the wood ashes carefully,
land, after the orchards are plowed,
scatter the ashes over the plOwed
ground literally, and harrow the
ground well. This Incorporates the
ashes with the soil. and assists in in
ducing chemical changes and the for
nation of plant food. There is large
portion of lime in wood ashes as well
rs potash.
A Western farmer advises stringing
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